Improvement in knife-sharpeners



ciutat sane atteint Gettin.

Leners Patent A 160,470, dated Mai-ch 1,1570. i

IMPROVEMENT IN KNIFE-SHARPENIERS.

The Schedule referredxo in these Letters Patent and making part of the s ame.

I, THOMAS VICKERY, of the city of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented an Improved Knife-Sharpener, et'. which the following is a specificalt-ion. 1

1`n the drawings, like letters indicate like parts.

Figure 1 is a front elevation Figure 2 is a. vie-w of my invention from above the same, showing the connection of the purts.

rlhe diiculty which heretofin'e has been found in the use ot' the more eouunon kinds ot' knife-slutrpeners is in bringing the cutters into proper ctintact to seize upon the edge of the knife amlreduce it to the required degree vof thinness. The contact generally secured by overlapping the euttingplates.l But it is found by usin,r this method that the two facesl ofthe knife-edge are not made. sil'nultaiwously at the-same points, but that one fare.` is cut beiorcthe part innuediatel opposite. reaches the cutter on its side. lt is nearly impossibleto form an evenly-cut edge in this manner, and it isa. common occurrence that persons who use this sharpenerdraw the knife between the cutters in the usual mannfer, tocut one side, and then in the opposite direction tb cut. the other. Besides this, the pointof the knife does not receive a keen edge, from the fact that while one side is properly cut inh passing the cutting-slnfaees, as soon as it passesthe outer cutting-plate, tbereisnolatelal pressure to bring the opposite side against the inner plate. r1`his device has been nearlydibandoned, and sharpeuers of this description are now seldom used.

Another device,- whieh, though invented by niysclf, has been anticipated bythe claim secured to 'lhon'ias H. White by Letters latent ofthe United States dated Septemberfl, 1866, is to place the two cutters together, so as to bring; the cutting-edgeson the same plane or level, and so,` to form both sides of the knife-edge simultaneously at the sanne points. Buta difiiculty has been experienced iii4 the use of this Sharpener. The knife, when drawn between the cutters, exerts a lateral pressure uponthem, and repeated using loosens the hold ot the. screws by which the cutters are secured .to the block, and the cutters are spread apart, so that the contact necessary to the\ forming of the knife-edge is wholly lost. This sharpener consequently lasts but a comparatively short time, and after a while becomes entirely useless. l

My invention obvia-testine difficulties above mentioncd, and renders Whit-es Sharpener a really practical implement.

The parts of my improved Sharpener are as follows:

A and A' are blocks, upon which are fixed respectively, the cutters F and F.

B is a bolt-screw, `passing:r through the blocks A and A', and fastened by the nut C.l`

The blocks are also more tirinly connected by the pins l) D.

A layer of rubber, E, lies between the blocks, and through it pass the bolt-screwy and pins.

By means o`f the nut C, the cutters lf and F'being tixed to separate blocks, can always be brought into anydesired degree et' contact, so as to seize` and prop erly reduce the edge of the knife.-

The rubber strip lf) lills the entire space between the blocks A and A', and serves au important use. As the screw isdrawn by the. nut C, the two blocks are brought together, and the rubber, because of its elasticity, actshas a packing, tittiug,r Vitself to all inequalities in the inner surfaces of the blot-ks, andforming a more pertect contact of the cutters.

'lhe rubber strip E also serres to protect thenewlyformed edge of the knife, it' by any chance it-docs nbt clear the instrument .in passinf. But for it the edge,

l striking` against the block whenever the knife in leav-l ing the cutters might. i'all thereon, would bc turned on blunted, but falling upon the rubber. is received with-i out injury upon the yielding and elast-ic surface.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The. combination of the blocks A and A', the boltscrew l, operated by the nut C, the pins 1) l), and the rubber strip E, substantially as set forth, and fort` the purposes hereinbefore described.

THOMAS VICKERY.

\Vitnesscs:

WALT. NEWHALL, Wannes' R. Pence. 

